Kitsunaka's Tail
by SoulWeaver Balinia
Summary: Namikaze Naruto, the 26-year-old Rokudaime Hokage, wakes up in an alternate dimension with no idea how he got there. It's his birthday, and, apparently, the ninth anniversary of the Kyuubi attack, and he's twelve. Go figure. He decides to try and make his female counterpart's life a little less miserable. Rated for language.
1. Birthday Girl

He sat up and yawned, stretching his arms far above his head, before looking blearily about the room. It seemed…dustier than it should have been. Closing his eyes again, he shook his head wildly before looking around again. It _was _rather dusty. Actually, very dusty.

He sneezed, before getting up. He'd fallen asleep in his clothes? Weird. He found that he couldn't recall what had happened before he'd fallen asleep. He shrugged and got up to splash some water on his face, hoping it would get rid of his faint headache. Only to find that the water had been turned off. Also, the bathroom didn't have any of his stuff in it, and the mirror was covered in dust. This day was just getting weirder and weirder.

When he walked into the kitchen, shaking his hair in an attempt to get the fuzziness out of his head, there was someone sitting at the table.

His jaw dropped, hanging open for a few moments before he pinched himself in a futile attempt to wake himself up. After staring at the person in front of him for minute, he managed to sputter, "This had better be a dream, or I think I'm going crazy. Jiji, what the hell are you doing here?"

The man sitting at the table, the one and only Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, started, the pipe he'd been smoking falling out of his mouth. He blinked a few times, before starting again at the sight of the man in front of him. "Minato?"

"No. No, I am not Minato." He put his head in one of his hands, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Then what the hell are you doing here?! And how did you get in?!"

"I live here. Through the door, obviously."

"No, you don't. Nobody lives here."

"Huh. So, I'm not hallucinating, huh?" He sighed and sat down across from the man.

"What are you talking about? Who are you, anyway?"

He looked up at the man he was _absolutely __sure_ had been killed by Orochimaru some thirteen years earlier. "Naruto. Namikaze Naruto." He looked down at himself, and found that his clothes seemed awfully big. "Uh, could you tell me how old I look right now?"

"Uh, about twelve. Namikaze Naruto? Are you a relative of Yondaime's or something?"

Naruto's jaw dropped down in shock at the first comment. "Twelve?! Seriously?! Sweet." A maniacal grin spread across his face. "As for the relative thing, I guess you could say that…" He trailed off, as if recalling good memories. "So, Jiji, could you tell me how long it's been since the Kyuubi attack?"

Hiruzen started once again, and sputtered, "Why the hell would you want to know that?"

"I just want to know what year and date it is. Couldn't think of a better way of asking it."

The hokage frowned. Just who the hell was this kid, anyway?

"Uh, that would have been about six years ago, I think? And today's the tenth of October."

Naruto smiled at him before scooting back from his chair and calmly walking out of the room. "Thanks, Ojiji!" Hiruzen just stared after him. _What the hell just happened?_

* * *

After buying some new clothes and storing his other ones in a scroll, Naruto raced over the rooftops of Konoha, laughing as he flew through the air. '_Hey Kyuubi, are you still there?'_

**'Yes, I'm still here. Where else would I go?'**

He broke the connection and, deciding he was tired of jumping across the rooftops, used shuunshin to arrive at his destination. He rapped impatiently on the door. Leaning against the wall, he tapped his foot. He heard crashing, the sounds of things breaking, and muffled curses come from inside the door. It was opened by a purple-eyed, red-headed girl with whisker marks on her cheeks. Naruto muffled a squawk when he saw her face.

"Who the hell are you," she asked. It was more of a demand than a question.

He smiled brightly and replied, "I'm Kurama."

**'Hey, why are you using my name?'**

_'Because I want to and I can.'_

**'Gaki. So, is that you, in this alternate dimension/timeline or whatever this place is? She makes me feel really weird for some reason.'**

_'Apparently. I never thought I would get the chance to meet myself. This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait to mess with Kakashi-sensei's head.'_

"Okay," she replied and shut the door. Naruto managed to shove his foot into the frame, and her head peeked out again. "What do you want?"

"It's your birthday, right?" She nodded, eyeing him warily. "I'm going to take you out to go eat ramen!" She just stared at him, not quite sure if she was dreaming or not. Yes, it was probably a dream. But one she planned to keep on enjoying.

Naruto didn't wait for a response, grabbed her by the hand, and dragged her out of her apartment. He threw her up onto his back, ignoring her protests, and took her piggyback all the way to Ichiraku Ramen. Poking his head through the flaps, he sat down on a stool and plopped the girl next to him.

"Two miso ramen please!" The man looked at him dubiously. "I have money!" Naruto pulled a few bills out of his pockets and showed them to the man. His attitude instantly brightened, and he started preparing their orders.

"First time here?" he asked.

Naruto just grinned and said, "Sort of. I've heard great things about this place."

The old man smiled back. "I'm Teuchi, and that pretty lady over there is my daughter Ayame." His genuine smile startled the redhead, and she looked down in embarrassment. She wasn't used to this much attention.

Sort of jumpy with anticipation (he hadn't been able to eat at Ichiraku's in a while after he became Hokage), he asked, "So, what's your name?"

The redhead looked up and stared at him, her face completely expressionless. "You're six years older than me, you know where I live, you drag me all the way out here to treat me to ramen, and you know that it's my birthday, but you don't know my name."

"Yup, pretty much!"

"You're a moron," she said in a complete deadpan.

His grin got bigger. "I get that a lot. So, what's your name?"

"Uzumaki Kitsunaka," she responded. No elaboration, no nothing. Just a bored straight answer.

"Red fox? Cool." The ramen came, and Naruto began eating it up with all his usual gusto, while Kitsunaka just stared at him, before tentatively trying her own. It was surprisingly good. After quickly finishing his first bowl and ordering a second, Naruto asked, "Even so, it's kind of hard to say. Can I call you Kit?"

All he got in reply was a "hn" that reminded him, painfully, of Sasuke. "I'm taking that as a yes. So, starting the Academy anytime soon?"

"Tomorrow." Damn, this kid was a killjoy. Well, Naruto most certainly planned on changing that.

"Cool." His second bowl of ramen arrived, and he polished it off as quickly as the first. He paid Teuchi and grabbed Kit, pulling her off her perch. Once outside the stand, he took Kit back to her own appartment. He then disappeared somewhere else, leaving one extremely confused birthday girl alone.

**Hello peeps. I am Uzumaki Kitsunaka, but you can call me Kit ;). Anyway, this is a time travel fic. So, please. R&R. There's nothing that makes me happier. Except for milk. Heehee, milk.**

***Due to some confusion on the starting Academy age, I changed it from nine to six. Also changed the name so it sounds more Asian and so I wasn't stealing someone else's work. Hope you like my re-edited version.***


	2. Team Seven again

Chapter 2: Team Seven…again

The classroom, as per usual, was pure chaos. It was the day after graduation, and there were just way to many _girls_ for Sasuke's taste. He sighed and rested his chin on his hands, staring at the teacher's desk and hoping that Iruka-sensei would just _show up_ already so they could get this show on the road.

He sighed again, and shifted his gaze over to the door instead. It slid open, and in tiptoed a redhead. He didn't recognize her, but she didn't join the group of crazed fangirls that were gathered by his desk. He was bored out of his mind, and he absentmindedly wished he'd brought some sort of scroll to read. Boredom kept his eyes on the unfamiliar redhead, as she trudged right past his desk.

He tracked her progress up the stairs and saw her plop down next to Hyuuga Hinata. She put her head on the table and fell asleep, very similar to what the Nara kid was doing in the row right above where Sasuke was seated. He sighed again, and turned his head to glare at the stupid crowd of girls that was giggling and gossiping next to his desk.

His fan club. All of the girls were extremely annoying, following him around constantly asking him out on dates (all of which were politely refused) and generally making his life miserable. _Iruka-sensei, you'd better get here soon. Before I'm attacked by a bunch of preteen girls._

One of the girls, Haruno Sakura, decided to make her move. She shoved past the other girls and slid in beside Sasuke, uncomfortably close. Luckily, before she had a chance to do anything weird, Sasuke's wish came true. Iruka-sensei arrived.

"BE QUIET!" His request was granted. The room fell silent. "Okay, so, I'm here to assign you your teams. You will each be put in a group of three, with a jounin instructor on each squad." He began reading off the list of names, while Sasuke resumed trying to keep Sakura off him.

"Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke—" Sakura's hands went up in glory while Sasuke began slamming his head on the desk, "—and Uzumaki Kitsunaka."

_Who?_ both Sakura and Sasuke thought at the same time.

Iruka-sensei began walking up the stairs, and Sasuke's eyes followed him. He gently shook awake the girl next to Hinata, who opened her eyes blearily. "Hey Kit, I just announced your team. Go sit next to Sakura and Sasuke." She stood up and walked over to where they were sitting. She just slid in next to Sasuke and went right back to sleep.

Iruka sighed and resumed reading off the names. After he was finished, he announced, "Meet your jounins here at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Don't be late." With that, he dismissed them.

Hinata came over and woke Kitsunaka up, and they left together. After pointedly refusing a lunch date from Sakura, and because he had nothing better to do, he decided to follow the pair. Out of sheer boredom, and also to discover more about his rather mysterious teammate. When the two split up, Hinata to go to the Hyuuga compound and Kit to her apartment, he followed the sigil of fiery red hair.

Everyone avoided her, which he thought was a bit odd, but then he heard the whispers of gossip all around him. _"Did you hear? They're letting **it** be a ninja." "What is the hokage thinking?" "Demon." "Shh, we're not supposed to talk about it." _The hushed tones and uncertain glances reminded him of the time right after the massacre. He quickly shoved the black memories to the back of his mind, and continued following the Uzumaki, who was headed towards a run-down apartment building down at a bad end of town.

* * *

When she got to her doorstep, Kit saw yet another package on her front doorstep. The one yesterday had said, "Congratulations making genin!" and contained a pack of high-quality kunai and shuriken, along with some strange tri-pointed kunai with seals on the hilts. It had also included a lavender wrap-around dress and black knee socks, along with a pair of matching combat clogs.

She unlocked the door, kicked it open, and shoved the box inside. Kit grabbed a knife from the kitchen and cut the tape. Opening the flaps, she saw that this one contained a pair of black hakama and a matching haori with a crescent moon across the back. A pair of black flip flops was also there, along with a note that said: _"Be at the Academy at 9 am, and not late like you normally are; I'll make sure your sensei doesn't keep you waiting for two hours like he did me."_ Kit was rather confused; how did this guy know so much about her jounin sensei? How did he know so much about _her?_

Starting from the time she was six and started the Academy, she would get care packages sent to her by an anonymous sender. At first it was just the necessary things that she usually couldn't get for herself, and the Hokage didn't think to provide for her. Things like groceries, toothpaste, soap, bath products, and even silverware. Then, the day after she found that her sandals were too small for her, and the rest of her clothing was feeling tight, she received a box full of new clothing, most of it distinctly orange. She left a note on her door saying that she didn't particularly like the color orange and that her favorite color was purple, but that the clothes were nice anyway. The next time new clothes came, they were purple.

Then, after looking longingly at a fox mask in a shop window but afraid of asking the shopkeeper for it, for fear of a bad backlash, she found it in another box on her doorstep. She'd get gifts for her birthday, and on festival days too. Whoever had started sending her these had done a lot to brighten her days, and although she wasn't exactly happy, she wasn't miserable either. Although she did wonder how whoever it was had so much information on her.

Anyway, Sasuke was looking in through the window, but Kit was just too distracted to notice. If she had seen him, she would have noticed as he glanced around what he could see of the apartment, and that he found it extremely neat. The walls were painted a soft yellow, with swirls in purple adorning the walls. It was nice, but there weren't any adults around. He watched as his teammate prepared lunch for herself, and was slightly (only slightly) impressed with her cooking skills. Climbing around the rest of the floor, he saw no other rooms of note except for a single bedroom, and he assumed it was Kit's. He jumped down to the ground and started strolling idly back to his own dwelling. _So she lives alone. Like me. Interesting._

* * *

The next morning, Kitsunaka got up around eight, made her bed, took a quick shower, dried her hair, fixed herself some breakfast, and after some deep thought, put on the lavender wraparound dress she got the day she became a genin and the matching socks and clogs. They were soft and comfortable, and fit her perfectly. She fastened her weapons pouch to her waist, and after tying her hitai-ate around her forehead, and arranging her bangs so they didn't cover her face, she ran off to the Academy. She was only five minutes late.

She was one of the first ones there, though. She took her seat next to Hinata, took a scroll out of her weapons pouch, undid a seal, and took out her sketchbook. The thing was chock-full of drawings of foxes, doing everything imaginable. The one she showed to Hinata depicted a black rabbit with pale lavender eyes snuggled up to a red fox with amethyst eyes. "Best Friends" was written in beautiful kanji underneath it. Hinata smiled and hugged a stiff Kit, who carefully tore out the drawing and gave it to her.

After waiting about fifteen minutes more, Hinata's team was called, and she had to leave. Slowly, the other jounin senseis picked up their teams and left, until she was alone in the room with the pink-haired clinger and the broody Uchiha.

Meanwhile, quite a ways away, a man with a shock of white hair and most of his face covered was leaning against the Konoha Memorial Stone, reading a suspicious book. "So, the other senseis should have picked up their students by now. So I'll go browse the bookstore for a new Icha Icha book. Then get an early lunch. Take a nap. And if it hasn't been three hours, revisit the Memorial Stone." While the former ANBU Hatake Kakashi was planning how to go about his three hour late arrival, a figure appeared behind him, grabbed him, hogtied him, and shunshined away.

All three members of Team 7 did a double take when a boy in his late teens suddenly appeared at the front of the classroom and dropped a man in his twenties on the floor. The teen cut the ropes and folded his arms at the guy. "Kakashi-sensei, you were planning on being _three_ hours late? You were only two for us."

"Who the hell are you? I've never seen you before in my life. Wait a second… Minato-sensei?"

"No! Why does everyone think that! I'm only eighteen for kami's sake!" He turned to Team 7. "This lunatic right here is Hatake Kakashi. He's your jounin sensei. I found him out by the Memorial Stone reading one of his perverted books." When Kakashi started to protest, he retorted, "Hey, I know the guy who writes that stuff. The best way to describe him is as a pervert.

"Anyway, let me introduce myself. I'm Namikaze _Naruto._ Not Minato. Because I am _not _the Yondaime Hokage. And my name doesn't refer to the fish paste that goes in ramen, it means maelstrom. Later." He waved at the team before disappearing.

"Who the hell was that? Do you know him, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. Kakashi just shook his head and picked himself off the ground.

"I have absolutely no idea," Kakashi said blatantly, "but he sure has some skill."

Kitsunaka smiled slightly behind her hand. _Was that the guy who's been sending me gifts?_

"Anyway, meet me on the roof." This time, it was Kakashi who disappeared.

Kit simply used hiraishin, thankful that she'd thought to stash one of the kunai up there (she was glad her benefactor had left instructions on how to use them), and actually arrived before her sensei. He was stunned, to say the least, but Kit didn't care. The other two members of the team trudged up the stairs about five minutes later.

"Okay, so tell me about yourselves."

Sakura asked, "What do you want to know?"

"How about… Your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, stuff like that."

"Why don't you introduce yourself first?" wondered a decidedly bored Kitsunaka.

"Yeah… You look kind of suspicious," agreed Sakura.

"Oh…me? My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes…dreams for the future…? hmm… Well, I have lots of hobbies—" He was interrupted by the yellow-haired boy, who happened to be sitting in one of the trees growing on the roof. There was a whole grove of them.

"Oh no you don't. You are not going to get away with just giving them your name, seeing as I already introduced you to them." Everyone in team stared up at him.

Kakashi, on the other hand, glared at the boy, who reminded him of his (unfortunately deceased) sensei in more than one way and seemed intent on ruining his fun. "Who are you? And why do you know so much about me?"

"Ask Hokage-ojiji about October tenth three years ago. He'll tell you who I am…although he doesn't know everything either." His grin widened. "Anyway, I think I'll do Sensei for him. I was thinking more along the lines of…" He closed one eye and put a hand in front of his mouth in a mocking imitation of Kakashi's hitai-ate and face mask. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like Icha Icha Paradise, I dislike people who hurt my friends, my dream is to become a great teacher to my three young students, and my hobbies are being late to most of my meetings." Ignoring an open mouthed Kakashi (it was still clear even under the mask), he gestured towards Sakura. "Okay, pinky, you're up first."

Sakura flushed a deep red. "Uh, well, I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like is…" She looked at Sasuke, "Well… the person I like is… Umm… Should I say my dream for the future...? Oh my! What I don't like is…uh, Yamanaka Ino."

Naruto nodded and thought smugly, _Yeah, Kitsunaka's not an annoying brat like I was so you can't say you don't like her._

Kakashi thought, _This girl is completely obsessed with Sasuke. Kami, this is going to be a pain._

"My hobby is…" Again Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was seated between her and Kitsunaka.

"Okay!" Naruto interjected, jumping down from his perch in the tree. "We get it! You only think about Sasuke! Oi, broody Uchiha, you're next." Sakura pouted and Sasuke debated whether or not to join Kakashi's obvious hatred of the blonde.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I hate and I don't really like anything and…I can't really call it a dream…but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and…to kill a certain man."

Naruto decided to try and work some magic here. "You know, getting revenge by killing someone a lot older than you are really isn't a very healthy goal. Especially when what happened really wasn't his fault." All he got in response was another glare. "Okay, just thought I'd try to help. So, foxy, your turn."

Kit's face was emotionless. "My name is Uzumaki Kitsunaka. My name means red fox. What I like is drawing. What I don't like is how most adults in this stupid town ignore me or treat me like crap." Naruto was actually a little surprised at her language, although he understood where she was coming from, and both of her teammates just stared at her. "My dream is… Well, I wanted to find out who was sending me all those anonymous packages, but I already did." She pointed her finger at Naruto.

"Guilty as charged."

"You're Kirinmaru, aren't you?"

"Haha, you remembered your sixth birthday. I'm touched."

"Anyway, my dream is to become hokage and make everyone in this town acknowledge that I exist and am actually worth something. And figure out where the name 'Kirinmaru' came from."

"Hmm, he did get rather mad at me when I used his name. But, you won't be able to find out who he is until you meet Kurama. End of story." Both Sakura and Sasuke were extremely lost and confused at this point, although Sasuke was sure not to let that show on his face, and Kakashi was still lost in all the reasons Naruto reminded him of Minato-sensei and why that annoyed him. Kitsunaka had resumed her bored expression, and had decided to ignore Naruto from this point forward.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, snapping his fingers in front of Kakashi's face. "You gonna tell them about the bell test or not?"

"Only if you leave. And quit calling me sensei, I don't know who you are."

"Oh I'll leave. But I'm still calling you sensei. It's too much of a habit to drop." Taking out a hiraishin kunai, he twirled it around his finger once before disappearing in a yellow flash.


	3. Bells

Chapter 3: Bells

Sasuke stretched. He yawned a little, but quickly caught himself before it could progress very far, replacing it with a scowl. He quickly got dressed before trudging across the room to the kitchenette. He didn't care what that stupid jounin said, there was no way he was going to throw up in some stupid training exercise. It wasn't possible.

Then there was the whole deal with the weirdo who'd shown up yesterday. He knew far too much about him, and Sasuke found it equally unnerving that he knew so much about Kakashi-sensei as well, when obviously Kakashi had never seen him before. Plus, there was something about his surname that was nagging at him… Where had he heard the name Namikaze before… Plus, there was the whole "five years ago on October 10th" thing too.

Sasuke quickly brushed all thoughts about the weird stranger aside. He had better things to do than worry about some kid. After he finished breakfast, he just barely remembered to grab a book on his way out, so he wouldn't be bored while waiting. He didn't have a chance to look at the title before he left.

When he arrived at the bridge (which was later nicknamed "The Team 7 Bridge" because it was where Kakashi always told them to wait), he found he was the only one there. Sighing, secretly pleased to have escaped the clingy pink kunoichi, he sat himself down and opened the book. He got a good look at the title, and almost gagged.

"Icha Icha Paradise". That's what was written on the cover. "What the hell…?"

He heard laughter from behind him. He looked over the railing he was leaning against, and saw the blonde weirdo from yesterday, sitting on the surface of the water. The guy was laughing so hard, tears were streaming from his eyes.

"Oh, kami, Sasuke, I didn't know you were into that kind of thing! Wait 'til I tell Gama-sennin… Oh this is just too good! I guess I'll have to call you Ero-_genin_ from now on! What would your brother think? Oh, this is just hilarious!" Sasuke stopped listening to the blonde's rants and promptly chucked the book at his head.

"This is not mine! I have no idea how it got into my house!" Naruto caught the book before it hit his face easily, still laughing his head off. Sasuke turned around and glared sulkily the other way.

"Okay, okay! No need to get all worked up, cockatoo." Sasuke whipped his head back around. "What? Have you ever _looked_ at the back of your head? Your hair is _hilarious_!"

"Sasuke-_kun_!" He turned from his scrutiny at Naruto, and instead of lifting, his scowl deepened. It was Sakura. He turned around and resumed glaring at the now giggling half-stranger.

Sakura paused when she saw Naruto too. She was out of breath, and panted, "Why… are you… here…?" Naruto abruptly stopped laughing when he saw her, and he stood up, still standing on the surface of the stream.

"Sakura, I'd like to inform you that you _did_ have time to dry your hair this morning, because contrary to the fact that Hatake Kakashi told you to show up at 5 am this morning, he usually doesn't actually show his face to you guys until at the very _least_ an hour after the fact. Usually it's two or three hours." Sakura's face turned crimson.

"What kind of insane stalker are you?" she yelled out.

All he did in reply was smile sarcastically at her. "Also, I'd like to inform you that your sensory skills are rather good, and it would be a shame if you got caught in a genjutsu, so try to stay aware of your surroundings, 'kay? Especially if you see Sasuke dying." Sakura's face flushed even deeper, and Naruto's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Oh, and one more thing for both of you: don't let yourself get butt-raped by your sensei." He shuddered inwardly. "It really isn't pleasant, no matter how ridiculous the name he gives the technique is." Suddenly a wide grin spread across his face. He pulled out one of his strange, tri-pointed kunai and disappeared in a yellow flash.

* * *

About an hour later, Kitsunaka showed up, plopped herself down on her stomach, took out a sketchbook, and started drawing. Sakura had _finally_ given up trying to snuggle herself up to Sasuke, and was now sulking. Sasuke, bored out of his mind all because he brought the wrong book, was brooding quietly to himself. After another hour with only the sounds of Kit's pencil strokes on the page, Sasuke quietly peeked over her shoulder. Not because he was interested, or anything like that. Simply because he was bored out of his _mind _and needed something to do.

What he saw was rather surprising. She had a fox snuggled up to two larger foxes, one with nine tails and the other with four. It was all in white and gray, but she'd written in characters to say what the colors were supposed to be. The small one wasn't shaded in at all, and said "white". The nine tailed one said "red", and one with four tails said "yellow".

Kit was humming softly to herself, and Sasuke heard something that sounded vaguely like a lullaby spilling from her lips. He carefully backed away, and jumped as he heard a soft _thump_ from the arch above the bridge.

"Oh-hi-yo! I got stuck on the path of life and—"

"You liar!" Sakura immediately yelled. Kit just continued sketching. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the jounin.

"Okay, so follow me to Training Ground 7!" This time, instead of flickering away, he jumped down onto the bridge. He waved his hand rapidly in front of Kit's face, and was rewarded with a soft, "I heard you," and an exasperated sigh from Sasuke.

Standing up again, Kakashi looked warily from side to side, as if checking to make sure no one else was there. It was his turn to jump when a voice came out from under the bridge, "Don't worry, Copy Ninja. I'm not going to interfere with the bell test. It's not really something that _can_ be messed with anyway, and I have no intention of ruining your fun today. Okay? Oh, and don't forget what Uchiha Obito always said. That was my favorite part."

Kakashi's face, or what Sasuke could see of it, turned pale, and his eye widened in something that looked like… _fear?_ He jumped onto the water, walking on the surface, to check under the bridge. He was met with the sight of Naruto sitting next to a medium-sized toad. The kid threw a stink-eye at him, put his hands into the clone seal, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The toad threw him an odd look, before faint recognition registered in his expression, before disappearing as well.

"Uh… Sensei? Are you coming?" Kakashi shook his head to clear it, and jumped back onto the bridge. He beckoned his students to follow him, and began walking in the direction of Training Ground 7.

* * *

Naruto watched with growing amusement as the test progressed. Sakura _still_ got caught in Kakashi's genjutsus, despite his warnings. Kit didn't look particularly motivated, but used her hiraishin kunai to get close to Kakashi. Sasuke still ended up getting stuck in the ground with only his head sticking up, furthering the evidence (in Naruto's opinion) that his hair made him look like a cockatoo.

In the end, Kit had grabbed both bells, but she gave them to their teammates, saying that they deserved it more than she did. For that, Kit ended up getting tied to the post, something she didn't look particularly happy about, but she didn't complain. Kakashi took the bells back and told them to eat, but not to give any food to Kit. Sakura started yelling at Kakashi, saying stuff about how Kit hadn't done anything wrong, and she thought her sensei's teaching methods were extreme. Kit had just stayed mute, but, to Naruto's surprise and delight, Sasuke had agreed with Sakura. After the entire rant ended, Kakashi got up in all of their faces and yelled, "YOOUU… pass!"

Naruto almost burst out laughing at the shock on Sakura's and Sasuke's faces, but Kit's expression didn't change. Kakashi went into his whole lecture about the Memorial Stone and his friends were KIA, although he flinched slightly when he got to what Obito had said. Satisfied and very amused by what he had seen, Naruto decided to take the long way home.

Granted, it wasn't really his home, not officially, but he was one of the only people who could actually get into the house, so it wasn't as if anyone would mind. He sighed as he walked down the street. He'd finally grown back into his old clothes, but he'd had to get rid of the stitching on the back of his cape that had read, "Rokudaime Hokage". He didn't wear his leaf headband anymore, but instead had his old army hitai-ate tied around his forehead. It earned him some strange looks, but no one had accused him of not being a leaf shinobi and wearing their symbol.

When he got back to the Namikaze compound, he was surprised to find the Hokage sitting at the kitchen table. After receiving a pointed glare from the old man, he hesitantly sat down across from him.

"Kakashi asked me who you were this morning," he began. Naruto smirked, and Hiruzen hesitated before continuing, "What do you want me to say? I _still_ am not clear as to your identity, or why you wear that strange headband."

Naruto just grinned at him. "The question is, would you _believe_ me if I told you my story."

The Hokage just closed his eyes. "If you don't tell me, how would I know?"

"You asked for it." Naruto closed his eyes, as if in contemplation, and took a slow, deep breath. "My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto."

The old man's eyes shot open at this, and he stared in shock and disbelief at the blonde. "Uzumaki?"

**Ok, so school started recently, and fanfiction is apparently categorized as adult on my computer, so updates will be coming slower than recently. Thank you for your patience.**


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